Terming the judiciary as an important and fundamental branch of the state, President Abdul Hamid expressed the hope that the judges will carry out their responsibilities sincerely and honestly maintaining the highest neutrality for the sake of democracy, country and the people.
“The role of judiciary is very important for flourishing of democracy, establishment of the rule of law and protection of the people’s fundamental and constitutional rights. If justice is not established, the individual is not only affected, the people lose their confidence in judiciary, and flourishing of democracy and rule of law are hampered,” the President said while addressing a programme of the 20-year of Law Commission here on Saturday.
He said the executive, parliament and judiciary are the fundamental pillars of the state and the role of these three organs is unique in protecting the people’s fundamental rights as well as democracy, human rights and rule of law.
“So, I think, it is very important to maintain balance among them to ensure the highest welfare for the people and the state. These three organs are complementary to each other though they are independent in their respective activities,” the President added.
Mentioning the newspaper reports on serving jail by people without trial or wrong conviction or even after the end of the tenure of the imprisonment because of the lack of taking timely steps, the President said such incident does not only affect the respective person or family, but also hamper the rule of law. All concerned quarters will have to work consciously and sincerely to stop recurrence of such incidents, he added.
The President emphasized on reformation of age-old laws for the welfare of the people. The Law Commission has been working on the reform proposals of the witness law of 1872, making the draft witness law in Bengali and code of criminal procedure of 1908. “I believe that if these are completed and implemented it would be a great achievement for holding trials properly and quickly,” he said.
He said most of the age-old laws have become irrelevant and inappropriate with the passage of time and it is now the demand of the time to make these laws time-befitting. Laws are for the people and their welfare, he said, adding that the commission must take these into consideration so that the people’s expectation and welfare are reflected in these amendment proposals and suggestions.
Law Commission Chairman Justice A.B.M. Khairul Haque presided over the programme while Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha, Minister for Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs Anisul Haque, Chairman of Bangladesh Judicial Service Commission Justice Hasan Foez Siddique, Director General of Judicial Administration Training Institute Justice Khandaker Musa Khaled, among others, spoke at the programme.
Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha in his speech highlighted different problems of the judiciary, including inadequate budget and infrastructures and said these problems will have to be solved for bringing dynamism in the activities of the judiciary.
Law minister Anisul Haque said the present government firmly believes that the rule of law must be ensured for establishing good governance and development. For this reason, trial of those committed crimes against humanity is being held after 44 years, he said, adding that the government is holding this trial maintaining all international laws and the country has been able to come out from the culture of impunity.
